Kenzō Tanaka

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death.

A tea master and his daughter Ogin are both Christians in feudal Japan. Ogin falls in love with a married feudal prince who shares her faith. When the Shogun bans Christianity, the situation worsens.

Stage director Shimamura, who is bringing western theatre to Japan, falls in love with outspoken actress Sumako Matsui, and leaves his family to be with her, while trying to keep his Art Theatre solvent.

In early post-war Osaka, three women—war widow Fusako, her Korean expat sister Natsuko, and Kumiko, Fusako's sister-in-law—descend into prostitution, all for their individual reasons.

Misawa Ihei (Nagato) is traveling with his wife Tae (Iwashita Shima) who abhors the practice of sword fighting for prize money. Tae is the daughter of the clan's chief counselor who married the low-ranking Ihei to avoid becoming the clan lord's mistress. Into the mix comes Oba Gunjuro (Tetsurō Tamba), a mysterious ronin who will do anything for money. This leads to a fitting climax as the forces of hate and love converge while the couple attempt to break through the border!

In Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.

Part 2 starts where the first film ended, with Iemon disposing of the bodies of his wife and Kohei, marrying upward, and being blackmailed by the evil Naosuke.

In 1863, when American warships approach Japan, an enigmatic ronin becomes an important figure in a complex game of power between the Shogunate and the empire.

A continuation of the prior film (影法師).

The head of Oshu, Harumichi Honma, was ordered by the boat bugyo (Commissioner of the board) Tajima Kuze to extract five gold coins to the Shogun family in Edo, and put it into Ryujin Maru. However, Tajima, who was the chief retainer of the shogunate, said that he was a member of the board, tetsugoro Funabashi, kumiyumi no Kami ichibei, and his son, masakichi, and others, and in the middle of the night, he killed all the members with poison in the night of the storm, threw Masayoshi, who was a fellow of the city, and masakichi, who escaped from the death of poison, into the sea and sank the boat to eliminate evidence.

During the era of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one night a carver named Fujijiro was murdered. Immediately launching an investigation, Denhichi, accompanied by Otoshi and Take, toured the entertainment houses of Ryogoku. There, they discovered a connection between an acrobat and the incident. On their way home, Otoshi unexpectedly encountered an old friend, Inosuke, nervously buying a dagger. Inosuke, a clerk at the Kashimaya store, was in love with Oko, a secret lover of Bunzaemon. Amidst this, Seihei, the head clerk, was murdered by someone, and a dagger belonging to Inosuke was found at the scene, leading Gohei to suspect Inosuke as the culprit. However, Otoshi was hiding Inosuke. Driven by Otoshi's plea and a professional instinct that Inosuke wasn't the perpetrator, Denhichi desperately searched for the real culprit.

First sequel to "Story of Second Class Private".

In Marugame Domain of Shikoku, a low-ranking foot soldier named Tagami Genbachi was envied for marrying Tsuji, the most beautiful woman in the domain. However, due to a personal grudge held by Horikawa Gentazaemon, the swordsmanship instructor, Genbachi met an untimely and bitter death through foul means within the precincts of the Hachiman Shrine. Due to the domain's oppressive treatment of those of low status, Tsuji, now with her infant son Botaro, was dispossessed of her home and exiled.

A young boy named Chomatsu (Misora Hibari) lives with an old man Denbei near the grounds of Asakusa temple as bell ringers. In their house is an Echigo lion mask, a memento of Chomatsu's deceased father. After several incidents of Echigo lion masks being destroyed in the area, a local kingpin Saheiji shows up at Denbei's demanded he hand over the mask, a request Denbei rejects out of pity for Chomatsu. However, after it is accidentally revealed that the mask contains an important map, Saheiji plots to steal the mask. Chomatsu gets involved after his mother makes a sudden reappearance that sends the boy on a roundabout journey that will reveal the truth about his family.

Watanabe Kazuma and Kawai Matagorō from the Bizen Okayama Ikeda clan were close friends, but they inevitably became enemies after Matagorō killed Kazuma's younger brother, Gentayū, and fled. Seeking assistance, Kazuma asked his brother-in-law, Araki Mataemon, for help, but Mataemon refused, saying that it was against the code for a brother to avenge another brother's death. On the other hand, the lord of the clan, Ikeda Tadao, ordered a search for Matagorō, who was found to be sheltered by the Hatamoto, including Andō Jiemon, in Edo. Tadao was furious but unable to act. Matagorō, in Edo, came to regret his birth as a samurai. He met and fell in love with Okō, a bathhouse maid. As the discord between the Hatamoto and the Ikeda clan deepened, Tadao died of illness. Seizing the opportunity to ease the conflict, the shogunate ordered the Ikeda clan to be succeeded by the young lord Katsugorō and to relocate to the Ikeda clan of Inshū Tottori. Meanwhile, Matagorō was exiled from Edo.

Japanese war film.

On the night the shogunate's treasury was breached, the guard Utsugi had already been taken down. His colleague Ryunosuke felt responsible and decided to catch the culprit, not only for the sake of the beautiful wife of Utsugi, Chika, but also for his own honor. Chika's younger brother Shinjiro and the powerful Uechi family living near Ryunosuke's abode, join hands to support Ryunosuke. Counterfeit coins begin to surface—a scheme by the corrupt faction led by Yanagisawa. The henchman behind this is Koyamada Tesshin, who gathers ronin to amplify Yanagisawa's power. Among those ronin is Tendo Sakon—a man who drinks silently and plays the flute when in a mood.

The eleventh episode of the Denshichi Torimonocho series. Around the time of Shogun Ienari, a murderer known as a ghost hikyaku appeared in Edo, raping and killing young girls one after another. One night, a notice was recieved that Oichi, the daughter of Wakasa Kanayu of the small construction group, would be taken away. The mansion was surrounded by ten and twenty layers of people including Denshichi, who was asked to guard the house, and Sesshinsai Ohba, the owner of the dojo. Four seconds later, a violent explosion suddenly occurred.

A 16-year-old boy is ordered to commit ritual suicide to follow his deceased lord into death and preserve the honor of his clan. His elder brother's wife, who has raised him as if he were her own child, asks her husband for permission to spend a single night with the young man and teach him the pleasures of the flesh, out of motherly mercy and desire. However, the following day, a newly issued official decree changes everything...